what effect does a leaking airbox have?

[knee deep in it]

I am fighting a bog on my 2007 600HO carbed RMK. I am installing a variflow and had to take the airbox off. I have noticed that it is badly leaking. It had split at the bottom and was a good 1/16" gap.

Would this have any effect on the operation of the engine? Would this make the engine rich or lean?

 

[skibreeze]

Is it a crack or the normal joint? It will make it leaner and let in belt dust and other crap.

 

[knee deep in it]

the normal joint. The tabs aren't holding it together like they should. I have used some sealant, let it dry, then covered it with some good duct tape.

I can understand why a cracked carb boot would make it leaner, but the airbox is before the carb which mixes air and gas. I think there might be an effect because the carbs are vented into the airbox. If the air box is at a different pressure than the carb, would that change the operability of the carb?

I remember one sled I had, I had pods. It ran like crap compared to having an airbox. I think you can set it up but there was definatley changes that had to be made for it to work.

 

[skibreeze]

The airbox has an intake that is sized for specific jetting, they will even have shelves and or horns that will have flow characteristics. If you have any additional airflow thru removing those shelves or big gaps you are going to lean out the mixture even if it is a little.

 

[knee deep in it]

doing some research, the biggest effect may be that the engine is sucking in warm air from under the hood/ The cracks were located right near the part of the box that attaches to the carb. It makes sense that a lot of air would have been sucked in through the holes instead of through the air box and prefilters.

The bad thing about pod filters is that you end up sucking in hot under hood air. This air contains less oxygen than the cold ambient air so it would cause the engine to be rich.

??

 

[sledcaddie]

2 piece air box

It just makes sense to seal the entire air box up good. Like the guy above said, it will regulate the air flow better, and help to keep from sucking in things not good for engine internals. When I looked up the air box for my 08 D8, they don't even offer it (2-piece) anymore, only a one piece unit for a direct replacement. I think it was about $140.